Community radio station Source FM has been awarded a grant of £10,000 to enable it to deliver a much more professional service to listeners in the Falmouth and Penryn area.

The money received from the National Lottery through the Awards for All Fund, will be split between funding new equipment and, crucially, delivering a much more comprehensive training programme to almost 100 regular presenters.

As well as those on-air, Source FM has the support of 350 other volunteers from the wider community, ranging in age from eight to over 80, which this funding will benefit in terms of “technical” training. Industry-standard experience will give them the skills to improve their involvement with Source FM and will increase their chances of further training, education and employment.

The purchase of a new mixing desk and computer software for the Falmouth-based studio will upgrade current equipment and allow the station to broadcast a more professional, efficient service. This will also allow Source FM to secure more sponsorship, therefore increasing revenue that can be used to deliver additional training opportunities to volunteers.

Station manager Matthew Rogers said: “This is great news for Source FM. It will enable to us to make our community radio station more professional and importantly we can enrich the experience we offer to our volunteers by offering expert technical training.”

The grant will also enable the station to boost its sponsorship. “After contacting local businesses, we realised that our computer software was not reliable enough to capitalise on the level of interest we received,” said Matthew. “This funding will allow us to broadcast more sponsorship announcements and secure more investment opportunities from local businesses and organisations.”

Anyone interested in getting involved with Source FM and benefiting from the coming improvements, should contact Matthew on 07798 746933.